Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday urged the Senate to confirm several nominees approved by his committee, including five Justice Department officials and two prospective U.S. Attorneys.

The nominees are:

Dawn Johnsen, who was approved by his committee on March 19, for head of the Office of Legal Counsel.

Mary L. Smith, who was reported out of the committee June 11, for head of the Tax Division.

Christopher Schroeder, who was reported by the Judiciary panel July 28, for head of the Office of Legal Policy.

Susan B. Carbon, who was reported out of committee Dec. 3, for head of the Violence Against Women Office.

John Laub, who was reported out of committee Dec. 3, for head of the National Institute of Justice.

Sanford Coats, who was reported out of committee Dec. 3, for U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Mary Elizabeth Phillips, who was reported out of committee Dec. 3, for U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

In a press release, Leahy said, “This year we have witnessed unprecedented delays in the consideration of qualified and noncontroversial nominations,” adding, “We have had to waste weeks seeking time agreements in order to consider nominations that were then confirmed unanimously. I hope that instead of withholding consent and threatening filibusters of President Obama’s judicial nominees, Senate Republicans will treat the nominees of President Obama fairly.”

He continued, “During President Bush’s last year in office, we reduced judicial vacancies to as low as 34, even though it was a presidential election year. Judicial vacancies have now spiked. There are currently 97 vacancies on our federal circuit and district courts, and 23 more have already been announced. This is approaching record levels. I know we can do better. Justice should not be delayed or denied to any American because of overburdened courts and the lack of federal judges.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee this morning gave its voice-vote approval to the nominations of two Justice Department directors and two U.S. Attorneys.

They are:

Susan B. Carbon (National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges)

– Susan Carbon, who is nominated to be director of the Office on Violence Against Women. The supervisory judge of the New Hampshire Judicial Branch Family Division was nominated Oct. 5. She would succeed Cindy Dyer, who resigned in January. Read more about Carbon here.

John Laub (University of Maryland)

– John H. Laub, who would be director of the National Institute of Justice. The University of Maryland professor was tapped Oct. 5. He would succeed David Hagy, who stepped down in January. Read more about the nominee here.

– Mary Elizabeth Phillips, nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Phillips, who was nominated Sept. 30, would succeed John Wood, who resigned in February. Read more about Phillips here.

– Sanford Coats, who would be U.S. Attorney for theWestern District of Oklahoma. Coats also was tapped on Sept. 30. He would succeed John Richter, who stepped down in August. Read more about the nominee here.

The panel has now endorsed 26 U.S. Attorney nominees, including 24 U.S. Attorneys who have been confirmed by the Senate. Eight other would-be U.S. Attorneys are still pending before the committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee this week is tentatively slated to vote on the nominations of two Justice Department directors and two U.S. Attorneys, according to the panel’s Web site. The nominees are among a long list of bills and nominations on the panel’s Thursday business meeting agenda.

They are:

Susan B. Carbon (National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges)

– Susan Carbon, who is nominated to be director of the Office on Violence Against Women. The supervisory judge of the New Hampshire Judicial Branch Family Division was nominated Oct. 5. She would succeed Cindy Dyer, who resigned in January. Read more about Carbon here.

John Laub (University of Maryland)

– John H. Laub, who would be director of the National Institute of Justice. The University of Maryland professor was tapped Oct. 5. He would succeed David Hagy, who stepped down in January. Read more about the nominee here.

– Mary Elizabeth Phillips, nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Phillips, who was nominated Sept. 30, would succeed John Wood, who resigned in February. Read more about Phillips here.

– Sanford Coats, who would be U.S. Attorney for theWestern District of Oklahoma. Coats also was tapped on Sept. 30. He would succeed John Richter, who stepped down in August. Read more about the nominee here.

Eight other would-be U.S. Attorneys are pending before the committee, including four nominees that President Barack Obamatapped yesterday.

The committee may also resume its work on legislation that would shield journalists from being required to divulge their sources in many cases. The panel last took action on that bill at its Nov. 19 session.

Received his masters and doctorate degrees from the State University of New York at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice. Earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.

Has been a professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice since August 1998. Has been a distinguished professor since January 2008.

Was a professor at Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice from July 1991 to June 1998. Was an associate professor at the college from July 1984 to June 1991. Also served as an assistant professor from January 1981 to June 1984.

Worked as a project coordinator at The Use of Victimization Data to Assess the Nature, Extent, and Correlates of Serious Delinquent Behavior at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Grant Criminal Justice Research Center in Albany, N.Y., from July 1979 to December 1980. Was a research analyst at the office from December 1978 to June 1979. Also worked there as a research assistant from May 1978 to December 1978.

Had a teaching fellowship at the State University of New York at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice from August 1977 to May 1978.

Worked as a research assistant at the Criminal Justice Research Center in Albany, N.Y. from January 1977 to August 1977.

Was a workshop resource person/curriculum review at Quantitative Training for Public Policy Analysts, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Grant at the State University of New York at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice from July 1976 to January 1977.

Worked as a research assistant/para-legal advocate at the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration at Prisoner’s Legal Assistance in Chicago, Ill. from June1975 to August 1975.

On his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure Laub reports earning a salary of $180,000 as a professor at the University of Maryland. He also received $2,107 from his mother’s pension.

Correction: A previous version of this sorry incorrectly stated Laub’s salary as $282,132. This is the amount he earned in 2008 and the portion of 2009 before he filed his OGE disclosure. Also, the amount he received from his mother’s pension was not a monthly payment.

President Obama on Friday nominatedJohn Laub (University of Illinois-Chicago, State University of New York – Albany) to head the Institute of Justice, the Justice Department’s research and development branch. Laub is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland at College Park, and was a 2005 recipient of the Edwin H. Sutherland Award from the American Society of Criminology.

Laub has an extensive background in the field of criminology. Before taking a faculty position at UMD, Laub taught criminal justice courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston from 1981 to 1998, edited the Journal of Quantitative Criminology for five years and published two books on criminology. From 2002 to 2008, Laub sat on the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Science.

The National Institute of Justice, created in 1969, takes a research-based approach to law enforcement, partnering with state and local policymakers to, as the agency’s Web site says, “create scientific, relevant, and reliable knowledge — with a particular emphasis on terrorism, violent crime, drugs and crime, cost-effectiveness, and community-based efforts — to enhance the administration of justice and public safety.”